Tea Party: Anti-Corporate Corruption Fighters?

Some in the press still seem to have trouble defining whatever it is that motivates the Tea Party movement. I noticed this in an L.A. Times piece last week (6/5/11):

Americans possess a long-standing wariness of power and its potential as a corrupting influence, especially in the hands of large institutions. That instinct bred our government system of checks and balances and, more recently, led members of the “tea party” to embrace the nation’s founders (repackaged as a band of small-government crusaders) as the guiding lights of their movement.

So “wariness of power” and the “corrupting influence” of “large institutions” is what this is about. Huh. Then came New York Times columnist David Brooks (6/14/11), who wrote:

The Tea Parties are right about the unholy alliance between business and government that is polluting the country.

Activism Director and and Co-producer of CounterSpinPeter Hart is the activism director at FAIR. He writes for FAIR's magazine Extra! and is also a co-host and producer of FAIR's syndicated radio show CounterSpin. He is the author of The Oh Really? Factor: Unspinning Fox News Channel's Bill O'Reilly (Seven Stories Press, 2003). Hart has been interviewed by a number of media outlets, including NBC Nightly News, Fox News Channel's O'Reilly Factor, the Los Angeles Times, Newsday and the Associated Press. He has also appeared on Showtime and in the movie Outfoxed. Follow Peter on Twitter at @peterfhart.

Oh my. The “tea-party” gets funding from the Brothers Koch . That must means theyre beholden to them and anything they say must be wrong and comes from them being enslaved to the wicked Koch. Poor Dupes.
I heard a KKK member donated money to FAIR.org. during your last pledge drive. If true, that means you are all tainted, right? You have to obey your donors wishes?
What do you actually disagree with in those two quotes from the NY/LAtimes, Peter? i think they speak of admirable and valid grievances.
There are imbeciles in the tea-party but there are also very real and respectable ideals coming out of the tea-party. If your going to disown a whole movement because of hijackers like sarah palin then youre going to get caught up in the same loop of divisive faux partisan politics that has rotted the US and you might as well call yourself a Democrat…or a Republican…and fall in line to the party line.

Any thinking person of any party or no party would agree with David Brooks that there is an “unholy alliance between business and government that is polluting the country.” I truly hope that our “long-standing wariness of power and its potential as a corrupting influence, especially in the hands of large institutions” will help wake us up. We can choose to continue giving that power to corporations, whose allegiance is to the bottom line, or demand that our government divorce itself from corporate influence, and concentrate on justice, domestic tranquility, and the general welfare. Public financing of elections, with a cap. Short, issue-oriented campaigns. Down with Citizens United.

Funding from the Koch Brothers is not the same as a donation from a KKK member. Get real.
The Koch Brothers expect and will demand a quid pro quo. From whom? From whomever they talked to before giving their major funding. What is that quid pro quo. I don’t know, but I expect Leffe to know before he runs his equations.

“Imbeciles” and “ideals” are valid concepts, but those are marginal and merely words, respectively. What is the reality on the ground for the Tea Party? What affect does it have on politics in this supposedly democratic (ha!) society we think we’re living in? Whatever you think of those Tea Party “ideals”, the Tea Party is real and helps to produce changes on the ground. What are they?

For the most part, they are right wing policies and protocols that drive democracy deeper into the muck. To deny that is to prove your naivete and counter-productive influence on the health and destiny of democracy.

As a Democratic-Republic it doesn’t have long to live. Since the corruption of money was made legal if not Constitutional, and the constant rush of wealth to the already wealthy, it doesn’t have a chance to survive. It can’t survive if the top 2% owns more than the bottom 50% and counting.

Money shouldn’t and doesn’t equal “free speech” and yet it does in our bizarro world.

Public financing of elections by all means, Martha H. I would add a couple more things: Make voting mandatory, as the Aussies do, and endow the public election fund with the fines people would pay for not voting. And, in addition to the Republican and Democratic candidates (and Green and Libertarian and whoever else), put “none of the above” on every ballot. We shouldn’t have to elect people we really don’t like just because there is no good alternative.

Hmmmm Oudiva, making voting compulsory doesnt make a healthier democracy. Absolutely clueless people vote over policies that they have little to no understanding of. I would rather they get back to watching TV and playing football or something harmless rather than voting for populist Demagogues

I live in Australia, our Political parties are just like those everywhere, a right-wing neoliberal party called the “Liberal Party” and “Labour” a party that could be called neoliberal with a guilty conscience. Like the US, our Liberal Party MP’s indulge in fear-mongering, childish mud-slinging and being one-eyed in their obsession with bottom line economic growth models.

Right now they are leading a scare campaign against a Carbon Tax. Even though our inflation is being driven by the Housing / Finance market, the Right is pronouncing doom for every man woman and child if a Carbon Orientated Tax is introduced. I wouldn’t be suprised if the Government was voted out of existance if they pursue this tax.

Rupert Murdochs press puts every available effort in attacking this Tax effort. At the same time the Labor Government is terrible when it come to championing strong ideas and having the guts to make bold moves. They are totally scared of the opinion polls, of an uninformed and mentally lazy electorate.

Were it only true that the TP movement had only SOME imbeciles. You can’t turn around without these people embarrassing themselves with their shallow thinking. I don’t look for it, and sometimes I want to just cover my ears so just one less person laughs at them. But they are shameless in their march to give to the rich and screw the poor. A local writer in our paper just wrote in depth about how big the TP movement is getting here, and how wonderful it is. The second half of her “article” bemoaned the gov’t closing a clinic for the poor because of funding cuts from HER governor, Rick Scott. She needs to get a clue, a very big clue!!! Some of them have no idea what their ideas will even do in real life.
It is the TP movements hypocrisy of disliking big gov’t and business and then aligning themselves with both that is the mark of their insanity. Remember they only dislike big gov’t when they are not pulling its strings. And I think another point people here are missing is the disingenuous nature of the Koch’s who Peter rightly points out are funding a movement that is against big business, yet is in fact helping the biggest take over of gov’t by business ever witnessed in this country. Pulling that much wool over so many eyes says a lot about what the TP movement will swallow.

“Like NPR” – you’re kidding, right? Can’t even fathom how that relates to the corporate hostile-takeover of our government. The problem with most TP members is that they are shallow thinkers. They look at surface facts and no deeper. For example, when you compare administrative cost of Medicare to private insurance, Medicare cost more. Conclusion: Medicare is inefficient. Problem is, Medicare only deals with our older citizens, so a very high percentage of Medicare “customers” need assistance on a continual basis – more demand for services and care equals more administrative cost. Suddenly a simple conclusion becomes more complicated.

I doubt most of the TP members know much about the Constitution, yet they keep referring to it. After the Revolutionary War, when the Articles of Confederation failed and turned the new states into a bunch of squabbling, self-serving, mini-countries, the Constitution was seen as a way to centralize a more powerful federal government so the bigger states didn’t have free rein over our country. Today there are corporations richer than many small countries, and who, by law, are self-serving and only look out for profit and their shareholders. Because part of the duties of our government is to protect its citizens, we have the government regulation the TP doesn’t want. Sounds like a Koch Brothers’ agenda to me.

No, elcelcticguy (man, that handle’s a bitch), leffe’s not kidding. He simply confirms what we already know about the Baggers. Completely, utterly clueless. His friend and like-minded fellow Bagger, FAIR-blog’s Very Own Troll, will be along soon to defend and support him. Everything you wrote is accurate, elcelcticguy–I wouldn’t be too concerned with whether or not some Bagger-troll who stumbled in here understands the difference between the Koch boys and NPR.

Thanks for posting that, Jamie H. I think I actually linked to that column before at this very site. Taibbi perfectly describes the Bagger hypocrisy and stupidity–and underneath it all, the fear and paranoia.

L,A times writing about the tea Party?Now that is funny.A hyena writing about what life is like as a lion.What a hoot.
Look color it however you would like.The Tea party will stay above the fray.We will shove the constitution down the throats of both right and left.If you choke on it that has to do with you.All this utter nonsense on the koch brothers total ownership of the tea partyYes they implanted probes in our brain..I have been hear since the get go and funny…..never met those fellows.How about Soros.Or union leaders who damn near live in the white house.Now isnt there a better story.?And i have heard that Obama will be giving back all corp donations to his campaign (in a pigs eye). Cutting it from 1 billion -down to five dollars and sixty eight cents.
Look Carol……and the rest on the left we get it.You DONT get it.You don’t understand the tea party because the only reference you have is your own cut throat methods,and mentality.I was in Wyoming and ran into a real piece of work during the last election, who I overheard say “what the hell we gonna do with a nigger president”.Your color commentary of the tea party is slightly more advanced.

Lanny Says, The Koch Brothers expect and will demand a quid pro quo. From whom? From whomever they talked to before giving their major funding.
I dont think NPR is beholden to the Koch brothers, even though they gave NPR millions of dollars. Just as i dont think the ‘Tea-Party’ is beholden to the Kochs. The tea-party has no leadership and is based on ideals not party talking points.
@jamieH-thanks for the rolling stone article. the first paragraph shows that the writer is clueless about the tea party. Sarah Palin is not a tea-party member or leader. Her warmongering, pro political assassination, pro big government stances are much more in tune with, democratic/republican leadership(pelosi, graham, reid, boehner, obama) than with tea-party ideals.
@timN- i read Fair.org all the time and usually really like what they have to say and i donate to fair during its pledge drive. trying to put me in a little box and putting a ‘teabagger’ label on me is pretty counter productive and homophobic(tea party people like testicles on their faces is what youre inferring)…why dont u just say the tea-partiers are gay?
classical liberalism and libertarianism are very similar. keep thinking that we need big government to ‘help’ people. like the humanitarian love bombing of libya, the lobbying against a minimum wage increase in haiti, supporting dictators in egypt, bahrain, syria, yemen? thats where your tax dollars are going. they arent being used to bring democracy to the world or to help the poor and needy.

Look, dude, your people gave themselves the name “Tea-baggers.” Why? Because they weren’t thinking, that’s why. Then as now. It’s not my fault they, in their staggering ignorance, named themselves after a sex act enjoyed by millions ’round the globe. I’m not putting anybody in a box, either: you did that yourself when you conflated the Koch boys and NPR a few posts above. (Thanks for clearing that up a couple posts later, but your original intent was, to say the least, unclear. Still, the point you make above, that NPR is not beholden to the Kochs, is dubious. See below.) Anyway, what’s with the bullshit about “counter-productive”? I don’t give one good goddamn about a bunch of fuckin’ Yahoos who don’t have the sense that God gave a handful of gravel. What next? You gonna tell me that we need to “reach out” to the Bagger “community?” And, really, have you checked out NPR lately? They do the bidding of the Corporate world and are scared to death of being accused of “liberal bias.” They bend over backward to please and not offend conservatives while Rightists still condemn them for having a liberal bias anyway. FAIR itself has reported numerous times on NPR’s corporate slant–I’m surprised with all of your FAIR blog reading that this somehow escaped you.
P.S.: Some Tea-Baggers are gay, though not all of them. And there’s nothing wrong with that. And this may come as a surprise to you, but “tea-bagging” isn’t exclusively an act that men do to men. Keep your unfounded accusations of homophobia to yourself.
P.P.S.: And ” . . . testicles on their faces . . .”? No! One dips a tea-bag into a cup, just as a man might dip his . . . into her/his . . . mouth. Got that? You might as well get insulted for the right reason, no?

Tim….disgusting.Save it really.As i have told you many times- blacks call each other nigger,but they do not appreciate it if a white person uses that term.The term is not the issue …it is what and how people feel about it that are tagged with it.”WE” don’t like it.Is that clear?Do you need more clarification?Are you deaf or just stupid?You use it in defiance of our feelings exactly as people do with the word nigger.Again what is good for the goose is never good for the gander on your side.
B.s Well I actually don’t see any “leaders”in the tea party movement.It is simply a belief system.Just as easily inclusive to the right or the left.Sarah is in line with most of the beliefs of people who believed this country needed another tea party revolution.Sorry if you don’t like the term “shove down your throats”.It was a bit much.Better said we will demand that our leaders adhere( to the letter) to that that they have sworn an oath to.Right or left.I just gave a speech to a group of Dem leaders.It was on so called corporatism.I pointed out that any business no matter how huge can effect your life as the government can.No business can force you to buy their wares(healthcare).No business can use the IRS to take whatever they want,jailing you if need be.No business can take away LIGHT BULBS forcing you to buy what they decide.No business can take your land.So to compare corporatism even in the most conspiratorial over the top terms to business as usual with the government leads you to demand government get no stronger
Ps This just out. Calypso Louie just released that” there is a murderer in the white house.”Black unemployment has reached 16% (as high as the great depression.)Though they will never admit it with their vote ..he has let them down big time.What republican leader said that Obamas policies would worsen Black employment?

P.S. to the Troll: Fuck you, and your horseshit, bogus, lying, phony feelings. If thin-skinned punks like you can’t stand the awful truth, them get the fuck out of this particular kitchen already. I wasn’t even taking to you, you selfish, dumb, racist bonehead. Jesus! That is all.

P.P.S.: Honestly, B.S. D’Tektor and Professor Malcolm X, do you believe this crazy megalomaniac’s chutzpah? Actually, I’m being too kind–what a stone fuckin’ bullshittin’ crazy muthafuckin’ liar this sick fuck is, eh? Wow! Wowzaweeza! Can you imagine a group of “businessmen” sitting there listening to this clown? Yeah, this means I occasionally read his bullshit, his cries of pain and desperation, his way of handling his miserable life. But, every once in a while, one must simply fire back, and put the rhetorical horn deep, deep, into the hide of a jackass whose every utterance is an insult to thinking, to reason, to sanity, to democracy, to living a good and decent life. No surprise he defends the execrable tea-baggers and their racist, fucked-up, stupid “ideals” and “principles.” The imbecile gall! Principles? It’s like saying the guy who dropped the Zyklon-B into the death chambers was principled in his use of the poison. The Troll’s heroes– Bachmann, Palin, Perry, Ryan and the rest of those sickos, are in it for the money, and if it means fucking over the middle and working classes, so be it–and this turd is right there with them, kicking us while we’re down. (This rant courtesy of my having just read the Rude Pundit–Google his name, and read the works of the Master. That and one extra pint.)

Wow Tim
Really you need to calm down and try to stop attacking people who don’t agree with you.I know you believe that swinging for the fences and really saying whatever comes to mind is alright ,but I think you are forgetting who’s side you are on. You are supposedly on the side of inclusive open minded people, who accept those with differing viewpoints and life styles. What happened to all that?Always the true socialist comes out.And you have no rhetorical horn.Just bad manners ,no class,and a lot of old ideas that have already been transcended.My miserable life?Im extremely happy. Extremely. Truly Im blessed. How bout you?Well…..I will hope you are, irregardless of your violent bellicose nature.
B.s how old are you?You sound young(lucky you)You still have that” you and them”mentality.You know suits and those in sandals. Believe me those in suits are the unlucky ones.The Dem leaders were simply a group where was part of a report on insurance changes to medical treatments.Boring as hell.I got to speak.Was thinking of the beach the whole time.Still miss being a lifegaurd.That was a real job.

Prof malcome x………I damn well do get to claim what offends me.In no less a sense than a black man.Or a jew,or anyone else .It is simple really when you call people a slur.Do you respect their feelings as you demand they respect yours?In Tims world thats a big Fuck you.Tim thinks I should just stand the heat.We can all do better.Is Tim a pedophile ?So maybe i said things that make him feel i enjoy this method of sex.Maybe he said things that make me believe he likes to molest children?Do you not see how this moral relativism degenerates?The sad thing is no one here….none of you educated thinking people ever see to say to tim you have gone to far.It is worrisome to see how far you are willing to go on your side of the isle down this road. of personal attack.

[…] not the first person to offer a baffling take on the Tea Party–Times columnist David Brooks (6/14/11; FAIR Blog, 6/15/11) wrote that it was about critiquing the "unholy alliance between business […]